How does one calculate calories in a "recipe"

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Sebani
Sebani Posts: 24 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
For example? If I'm making lasagna. How am I supposed to accurately count the calories in that?

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  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    Try the recipe builder: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/box

    Some people find the recipe builder annoying since it does a pretty shoddy job of matching ingredients, and you have to do a lot of manual edits. The previous version of the tool was better, and is still usable via the following link:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/calculator
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    The calories is equal to the sum of the calories in the component parts.
  • DorisSilver50
    DorisSilver50 Posts: 98 Member
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    TimothyFish wrote: »
    The calories is equal to the sum of the calories in the component parts.

    Divided by the number of servings it creates...
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    TimothyFish wrote: »
    The calories is equal to the sum of the calories in the component parts.

    For simplicity's sake, yes.

    In practice, there's some debate about this, as some scientific studies have shown that the cooking process actually increases the calorie content of certain foods by allowing us to digest more of their nutritional content.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    segacs wrote: »
    TimothyFish wrote: »
    The calories is equal to the sum of the calories in the component parts.

    For simplicity's sake, yes.

    In practice, there's some debate about this, as some scientific studies have shown that the cooking process actually increases the calorie content of certain foods by allowing us to digest more of their nutritional content.

    I'll have to think about that one. Since calories in food is determined by either separating and measuring the macros or by burning the food, would it not be that some food, effectively, has fewer calories than indicated because we don't have the ability to break them down as efficiently?
  • cindyangotti
    cindyangotti Posts: 294 Member
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    Just add the calories of each item together and then divide it by how many servings it makes.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    It's an area of research that's fairly preliminary, and I'd take anything said about it with a shakerful of salt until more conclusive studies are done. But the theory goes that the cooking process gives our digestive enzymes access to more of the nutritional content from the food.

    http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2011/12/08/why-calorie-counts-are-wrong-cooked-food-provides-a-lot-more-energy/#.VVuAxUaEJZg
  • Sebani
    Sebani Posts: 24 Member
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    And what defines a serving? *noob*
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    Sebani wrote: »
    And what defines a serving? *noob*

    It's the weight of a single portion.

    Let's say you cut the lasagna into 12 pieces and eat a single piece. Your serving size is 1/12th of the total recipe weight. So, you can tell the recipe builder that you made 12 servings, and then log a single serving.

    Or, to be even more accurate, you can weigh the empty dish you use before filling it with ingredients. Then weigh the finished cooked lasagna, dish and all. Subtract the weight of the empty dish, and that's the total weight of your recipe. Then divide the weight of the amount you eat by the total weight of the recipe to get your serving size.
  • ruggedshutter
    ruggedshutter Posts: 389 Member
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    segacs wrote: »
    Sebani wrote: »
    And what defines a serving? *noob*

    It's the weight of a single portion.

    Let's say you cut the lasagna into 12 pieces and eat a single piece. Your serving size is 1/12th of the total recipe weight. So, you can tell the recipe builder that you made 12 servings, and then log a single serving.

    Or, to be even more accurate, you can weigh the empty dish you use before filling it with ingredients. Then weigh the finished cooked lasagna, dish and all. Subtract the weight of the empty dish, and that's the total weight of your recipe. Then divide the weight of the amount you eat by the total weight of the recipe to get your serving size.

    Just remember to record the weight of the dish. I never remember to do this until after I cook it and ready to serve...
  • abatonfan
    abatonfan Posts: 1,120 Member
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    Sebani wrote: »
    And what defines a serving? *noob*
    Anything can be a serving though. When I input recipes into MFP, I like to describe what one serving would be, such as "one mug cake" for an individual dessert or "100g cooked" for a recipe where I know what the weight of the entire product is. I can then manipulate the portion size (how many servings I have) so that it fits within my calorie in macro goals.
  • forgtmenot
    forgtmenot Posts: 860 Member
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    Create a recipe in recipe builder and then weigh each serving you eat.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    Sebani wrote: »
    And what defines a serving? *noob*

    For most things, a serving is about the size of your fist. For calorie dense things, servings will be significantly less than that.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    Sebani wrote: »
    And what defines a serving? *noob*

    that's really up to you.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    ruggedshutter wrote: »
    segacs wrote: »
    Sebani wrote: »
    And what defines a serving? *noob*

    It's the weight of a single portion.

    Let's say you cut the lasagna into 12 pieces and eat a single piece. Your serving size is 1/12th of the total recipe weight. So, you can tell the recipe builder that you made 12 servings, and then log a single serving.

    Or, to be even more accurate, you can weigh the empty dish you use before filling it with ingredients. Then weigh the finished cooked lasagna, dish and all. Subtract the weight of the empty dish, and that's the total weight of your recipe. Then divide the weight of the amount you eat by the total weight of the recipe to get your serving size.

    Just remember to record the weight of the dish. I never remember to do this until after I cook it and ready to serve...

    If you don't mind writing on your dishes, you can put the weight of each in permanent marker on the underside so that you always have it on hand. (Then you can pretend it's some sort of potluck code when people ask you what it means.)
  • cindyangotti
    cindyangotti Posts: 294 Member
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    For me... it's how much I want to eat and how many calories I wanted to use on it. Do you calculations in 12 and if that is too small then do your calculations in 10... until you get a satisfying number.
  • Chrysalid2014
    Chrysalid2014 Posts: 1,038 Member
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    Here’s a precise method of calculating your portion size if you have a pre-set number of calories allocated for your meal.

    Number of calories you want to consume = A
    Number of calories in entire recipe = B
    Percentage of total recipe for your portion = C

    A = C
    B

    And then:

    C x (weight of entire recipe) = weight of your portion

    For example
    Number of calories you want to consume = 300
    Number of calories in entire recipe = 2500
    Weight of entire recipe = 900g

    300 = 0.12
    2500

    0.12 x 900 = 108
    Your portion = 108g = 300 calories.
  • HollandOats
    HollandOats Posts: 202 Member
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    *wants lasagna*

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